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Scottish Rite and Radford COSD team up again for RiteCare summer camps

The annual RiteCare summer programs are an intensive, and rewarding, clinical experience for COSD graduate students completing their first year of study.

For the 23rd consecutive year, Radford University will host a series of camps this summer to enhance children's literacy and language skills.

Beginning June 4, four RiteCare clinics, under the auspices of the Radford University Department of Communications Sciences and Disorders (COSD) and sponsored by the Virginia Scottish Rite Foundation, will help children develop and enhance communication and literacy skills.

Radford University faculty and student clinicians will work with clients who have applied to participate in the program and attend for free, courtesy of the Virginia Orient of the Scottish Rite and VSRF. The RiteCare clinics culminate with a luncheon and program July 2, to honor the members of the Scottish Rite who have partnered with Radford University since 1995 in support of the summer RiteCare activities.

“Thanks to the Scottish Rite Masons of Virginia, these annual summer programs have become a wonderful culminating experience for our graduate students completing their first year of study” said COSD Department Chair Diane Millar. “Our students will participate in an intensive clinical experience serving approximately 50 children; this hands-on training under the guidance of our talented faculty is an invaluable part of our graduate students’ clinical education.”

The Language and Literacy Summer Institute (LLSI), led by COSD Associate Professor Elizabeth Lanter, supports the academic achievement of children from preschool to elementary school with programs to bolster oral and written language skills, such as story re-telling, sound awareness, letter-sound correspondence, comprehension and written expression. The LLI will run from June 11-28 and give Radford COSD students and future practitioners the opportunity to develop assessment and treatment skills expected in an educational climate where children’s academic achievement and progress are prominent considerations.

2018 will mark the 23rd year that Radford’s COSD Department and the VSRF have helped children of limited means overcome a variety of communication disorders.

The Preschool Language Lab (PLL) is a program for toddlers and pre-school-aged children with identified communication disorders or who are at risk of failing to develop strong communication skills. The PLL features peer interaction and music therapy activities for clients who will work with an interprofessional team of COSD and Music Therapy faculty and graduate and undergraduate students toward specific speech, language and peer interaction-skill goals. The PLL is organized by WCHHS Associate Dean and COSD Professor Corey Cassidy and Associate Professor of Music Patricia Winter. The PLL runs from June 4-28.

The RU Adventure Language and Literacy Camp, led by COSD Instructor Karen Arndt, is a literacy-focused camp for school-age children with language impairments that provides COSD graduate students an opportunity to participate in the design and implementation of evidence-based language and literacy interventions that focus on reading comprehension, morphology, phonological awareness and syntax in a school-based or private pediatric setting. The 2018 ALL Camp is an exploration of reading and writing within STEM curricula and includes on-campus field trips and experiments to bring science to life.

Language and Literacy in the World of Science and Technology, led by COSD Assistant Professor Karen Davis, broadens the participation and achievement of middle grade students with language-based learning impairments in STEM education through group and individual interactive lessons. The camp’s lessons are led by graduate clinicians who model helpful strategies and demonstrate the literacy skills needed to access vital STEM-related knowledge through literacy

Five RU COSD graduate students will receive Scottish Rite Summer Fellowships for the 2018 clinical programs:

Emily Speaks

Jessica Vorderer

Corina McEntire

Robin de Azagra

Alexis Hetherington

In addition to those COSD students and aspiring speech language pathologists (SLP) who receive fellowships from the Scottish Rite Foundation to participate in the 2018 RiteCare Summer Clinics, the Scottish Rite Foundation awards additional fellowships in the fall to Radford students who have committed to advancing knowledge of childhood language disorders and positioned themselves to work with children in Virginia with such challenges.

The Radford-VSRF partnership has a long heritage. 2018 will mark the 23rd year that Radford’s COSD Department and the VSRF have helped children of limited means overcome a variety of communication disorders. During that span, the VSRF has shared more than $1 million dollars with the COSD Department toward achieving the partners’ shared goals of language and literacy and preparing the next generation of SLP’s with additional clinical experience.